Firearms endure conditions that reduce the efficiency and reliability of the firearm. Firing, cocking and other activities increase the chances of a malfunction in the firearm and risk of injury to the user of the firearm. One manner to monitor the wear and tear of firearms is by keeping count of how many rounds the firearm has fired, either during a shooting session, throughout the lifespan of the firearm, or some other desired timespan. System and computer program products have been developed for monitoring usage of man carried firearms, specifically to monitor ammunition level and weapon discharges through real time data collection, analysis and real time visual feedback to the operator using piezoelectric detectors attached to a gun barrel. The piezoelectric detector attached to the barrel of the firearm sometimes comprises a temperature detector, such as a thermometer, to monitor the increase in temperature of the barrel caused by firing of the firearm. Another manner of counting the shots fired from the firearm is through monitoring the acceleration of the moveable parts of the firearm, e.g. the cocking parts of a pistol.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,669,356 describes a device for counting shots based on measuring the acceleration of a barrel and moving parts of a firearm using an accelerometer.
The disadvantage of counting rounds in such a manner is that a firing signature created by the acceleration of the moving parts caused by the firing varies due to a mass of the firearm. This is most noticed when attachments are attached to the firearm, such as a scope, a grenade launcher, or the like. A further disadvantage of counting rounds in such a manner is that the firing position and how the weapon is held, would generate a different signature. This would apply to firing the weapon when it is held by hands or when the weapon is secured to a firing station, or when the weapon is used in connection with a bipod. Furthermore, the weight of a shooter of the firearm changes the acceleration of the moving parts. The signal changes and requires continuous resetting of the shot counter parameters to obtain accurate data for to counting the number of rounds discharged from the firearm.